


more language than the name of the one you love

by kennedyismyhero



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post-Ep 04x12, Smidge Of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 06:38:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18632821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kennedyismyhero/pseuds/kennedyismyhero
Summary: A small look at Sara and Ava after they walked away from the bridge at the end of "The Eggplant, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".





	more language than the name of the one you love

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly an excuse to write Sara taking care of Ava, but it's damn hard to find reasons to play with "tends to injuries" on the Waverider where Gideon can heal most any injury in the medbay. I was also ridiculously inspired by lucylikestowrite's post-ep musings on Twitter, so those pop up as well.
> 
> There is a bit that explores the repercussions of Ava's kidnapping and injuries and it gets a little dark, so please be warned.

 

 

Sara can still hear Mona’s excitable chatter and Charlie cackling about something echo down the corridor as they near her door. She hadn’t intended on making a beeline for her room, but after everything that’s happened, her autopilot kicks in and this is the only answer that makes sense. For her part, Ava doesn’t seem to mind as she intertwines their fingers and follows her with an adoring, yet weary smile. Sara’s glad because the thought of letting Ava out of her sight anytime soon seems inconceivable.

“Make way, make way, coming through!” She barely registers Zari approaching before she slides smoothly around them and continues on without looking back. It might be a perfect tribute to how exhausted she is or maybe Sara really is just that wrapped up in having Ava within arm’s reach again, but it takes a little bit of an effort to reach for and appease her captain instincts.

“Is everything alright?” she calls out after a second, sparing an apologetic glance at Ava.

“Fine! Perfectly fine! Just never let Charlie and Mona backseat drive your texts!” A distant voice calls back after a beat. With a shrug, she turns back to the task at hand and sees Ava’s brow arched in the direction Zari disappeared in. Sara slides her hand over the door’s sensor panel and pauses to let the other woman walk in first, continuing to watch her intently as she drops her impeccably stylish coat down at the foot of Sara’s bed.

 

She considers it a tribute to how far she’s come that she doesn’t immediately break the little werewolf’s hand when Mona grabs for her arm after coming up behind her. Wolfie might be a little more indestructible, but she’s willing to bet it doesn’t extend to Mona in human form. Instead she turns, loosens her grip on Mona’s wrist and tries not to let her irritation leak out too much as she faces their newest crewmember.

“Is someone dying or dead?” Mona seems confused at first, retracting her hand from Sara’s personal bubble to look up at her a little blankly.

“No?”

“Has there been a new alert for a magical creature?”

“No?”

“Well then, Mona. I’m going to need some me-time, okay?” Mona retreats back a step nodding slowly, eyes flicking behind Sara to spot wherever Ava has settled in her room. She wishes she could unsee the ‘knowing’, gleeful grin spread across her face but it’s inescapable; she very much does not want to know what Mona thinks ‘me-time’ means.

“Short of immediate danger, only Gideon will be able to able to open this door.” She flicks her gaze to the ceiling, side-stepping just enough to obscure Mona’s line of sight to Ava and whatever is causing her mouth to fall agape. “Right, Gideon?”

“Affirmative, Captain Lance.” Sara readjusts her eyes back down to Mona expectantly.

“Of course, I was only going to ask…” she trails off, and her mouth falls open again. Sara is tempted to slap her upside the head like she does with the boys in order to get her to stop trying to peer past her at Ava.

“What?”

“Did you see which way Zari went?” All of the air rushes from Sara at this point, and she mentally kicks herself for not giving Mona a little more of the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes precedent simply prevails over best intentions.

“Oh. No.” She leans out her doorway and tries to remember which corridor Zari chose when she ran by earlier but can’t see anything except the momentary memory of Ava’s adorable smile as they reached Sara’s door. “That way?” It’s not really a guess as much as pointing in a vague direction, but it’s enough to send Mona on her way.

If Mona says anything else, it’s swallowed by Sara immediately wiping one hand down her face and the across the door panel, trusting Gideon to keep up her side of their arrangement. She spins on her heel and watches Ava shift from where she had collapsed in the middle of the bed until she’s perched on the edge.

She looks up and sees Sara standing just inside the doorway, and only then does a grin escape her lips. “You might be right about that whole baby conversation,” And Sara just shrugs a little in response.

She steps over and gently places her hand on Ava’s shoulder, she feels the full weight of her soft, honey blonde head as she collapses into Sara’s hip.

After awhile, she feels Ava look up and she glances down. She doesn’t say anything, but Ava’s look is somewhere between grateful and reaffirming. Sara doesn’t shy away from the attention, doesn’t flinch when Ava reaches to pull Sara down into her lap. She follows willingly and Ava’s hands linger on Sara’s upper arms, sliding slowly up to her neck to cup either side of her face. She cards her fingertips through her hair, and when Sara shivers slightly, Ava swallows hard enough for it to be heard in the quiet room. It’s not sexual, more like touch-starved after such a long time apart, but it’s intensely intimate all the same.

Sara feels her heart rate pick up and her breath catch as one of Ava’s hand flutters back down her neck to flatten at the base of her neck. Her palm drags centimeter by centimeter until it stops directly over Sara’s breastbone, her fingertips curling ever so slightly like she’s trying to grasp Sara’s heart. After existing for however long two real world week’s translates in purgatory, Sara is more than okay to offer up anything and everything to help Ava re-center herself. She brings her ear to Sara’s chest then, pressing it right up against the skin as her free arm tugs Sara in to narrow the gap between them even further. She can imagine after being trapped, surrounded by smiling happy couples, Ava might’ve started giving up hope she’d ever be close to Sara again. She can imagine because she felt something akin to that fear every time John insinuated Ava was dead or they hit a (metaphorical) wall in the store.

Ava finally leans back, seemingly reassured by the sound of Sara’s heart. Tears slip out of the corners of her eyes and Sara gently swipes at them, recognizing these as the same relieved, happy tears which leaked out when she found Ava sitting in the ‘As Is’ section. She leans down and meets their lips in a quick kiss, only slightly reveling in the height advantage afforded by their current positions. Once she feels Ava release one last deep sigh, Sara wraps her arms tight around her shoulders and presses another kiss to her temple.

“Please stay tonight,”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ava confirms quickly, something firm in her voice, even though it cracks and her eyes water a little.

“Okay.” Sara opens her eyes, head still canted to the side as Ava’s is nestled into the crook of her neck.

“Do you wanna shower? Or food? Or to brush your teeth?” She feels Ava’s laughter bubble up from beneath her. “What? Jumping between realms makes my teeth feel all weird. When I came back from the demon realm last year, I felt like I’d used cotton balls as mouthwash.”

Ava presses a kiss to the corner of Sara’s mouth. “I love you.”

“I love you too, but that doesn’t answer my question.” Sara maneuvers slowly until she can put a leg over to the other side of Ava’s hips and gently lower her to the mattress. Unfortunately even with extra consideration, her fingers brush the bandaged areas of Ava’s shoulder and she flinches back a little in surprise.

Ava catches Sara’s hands in a flash before she can retreat altogether. “I’m fine, babe. It’s okay.” Before she can spiral any further, Ava surges up and kisses Sara hard on the mouth. It’s a different sort of kiss than any they’ve shared before, frantic and almost painful with how much Ava is trying to say with it. Sara gasps into her mouth and Ava lets out a whimper until they’re pulling back and breathing heavy.

“I’m fine, really. Stay with me.” She nods briefly when Ava lays back down on the bed, bringing Sara forward a little so her fingers can continue combing through Sara’s hair. She tries to release the guilt that’d surged within her, her hands instead finding Ava’s shoulders, skirting over the edge of the tape and bandages.

“I mean, I trust Gary..” She starts in the middle of a thought, only to stop short as something she can’t quite put a name to washes over her. Across from her, the right side of Ava’s mouth quirks up in a smile that cannot be contained.

“What?”

“I never thought I’d be saying those words,” She shakes the distraction off just as easily as it came and refocuses on the woman in front of her.

“When it comes to you, Gary’s…”

“Dedication?”

“I was going to say obsession but sure, ‘dedication’.”

“Be nice.”

“Either way, I trust Gary had the best of intentions while we were….away. Hell, he might legitimately know something about first aid, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to clean you up myself.”

There’s a moment where Ava doesn’t answer at first, but after a beat nods her acceptance and, Sara might be reading into it but, she almost looks relieved. She makes her way to her feet and excuses herself to the ensuite bathroom to gather a bowl for water, some antiseptic cleanser, a couple washcloths, and gauze to re-bandage everything. That her bathroom has a ready supply of all of these, despite being three compartments away from the med bay, is merely a happy coincidence this time. Visions of taking a healed and happy Ava back home to continue their extended weekend alone dance behind her eyes. She makes a mental note to ask Gideon to contact a discreet cleaning service before they both pass out. The last thing Ava needs is to deal with the aftermath of broken glass and blood, not to mention the remnants of her extensive potted plant collection.

 

Sara goes through the motions, extending out the time actually needed to gather her supplies, trying desperately to purge any extreme reactions to the symbols she’s about to see littering Ava’s body. It was gut-wrenching seeing her on the dingy hotel carpet, folded in on herself, a quick assessment of her eyes devoid of any of their usual light and warmth. Setting aside the horrifying implications of her being there in nothing but a tanktop and underwear and what exactly that meant, seeing the dark angry marks carved into Ava’s body turned her stomach as soon as she was reassured she still had a pulse. By the time she has her hands full, she feels as ready as she’ll ever be to face them. Gideon may be able to heal them in an instant, but for now they both need the piece of mind of wiping them from their memories.

Now the last of the endorphins and adrenaline have mostly worn off, her legs feel heavy and her movements sluggish as she moves back toward the bed, similar to the way she usually feels after a battle. It must show on her face. It must show on her whole body, because Ava pauses as she’s about to pull her sweater over her head. Whatever is showing on Sara’s face is enough to have Ava finish pulling off her sweater and looking over at her warily, maybe anticipating something else going wrong. It doesn’t matter though, none of it matters anymore. Sara knows she loves Ava, and she knows Ava loves her just as much, their time in the store illuminating that quite clearly. Ava loves her whether they’re saving the world or Sara’s finding increasingly evasive ways to get out of doing the dishes. She remembers how sure Ava looked about wanting a life with Sara, and uses that to pour as much of that feeling as she can into her smile while she continues her approach.

“Everything okay?”

“Perfect. I’m just a little tired.” Sara hums noncommittally in response, closing the rest of the distance. She places the items in her hands down on table next to Ava’s side of the bed and guides her to take a seat on the edge. “So,” she starts, “I’ll clean you up then we’ll go to sleep until we get hungry, or one of the kids crashes the ship. Sound like a plan?” Her hands go to Ava’s knees as she crouches down in front of her stripped down to her underwear, making sure her eyes don’t linger on demonic symbols branded into flesh, but unfortunately Ava’s eyes do go there. Sara trails her thumbs down her upper arms, still careful miss the edges of marred skin. “We’ll get Gideon to heal these away in the morning, but for now…” Her voice cracks, trailing off as her resolve leaves her momentarily. No matter how many swallows she manages, she can’t seem to say the words. The image she conjures up of that douchebag laying hands on Ava’s beautiful body won’t easily be forgotten.

Ava regathers her hands, tugging just enough to redirect Sara’s eyeline to hers. “There’s nothing I want more.” She reassures her with a nod, though the lilt to her voice is as strained as Sara’s resolve. Something tells Sara it’s going to stay that way for while, and it irritates her to no end.

That this happened. That she wasn’t there to stop it. That she didn’t check in on Ava sooner. That Neron was able to get his hands on her.

But she has the power to make it better now. To cleanse his touch from her skin. To show her this changed nothing between them. This did not change how much Sara loved her. And that’s what Ava needs now.

 

It’s practically therapeutic, running the speckled washcloth gently across Ava’s skin, distracting her from the worst parts of removing the dirt and ash from whatever knife Neron used by laying down quick kisses. Grazing the backs of her fingers across her collarbones and around her perfectly sculpted shoulders, her touch is deliberately soft, the pressure purposeful and light. She makes her way slowly from Ava’s chest and arms to the dark marks across her thighs. She worries her lip, lightly chapped now due to just how much worry, and reaches back over to the bedside table with the basin of water. It doesn’t escape either one of them the proximity of these particular marks, of even though all of this was completely awful, of how much worse it could’ve been.

Sara watches Ava’s eyes slip closed as she runs the cloth over the first symbol, the tracks of ash residue following it. Sara meant what she said, she trusts Gary, but right now she’s glad he’s as squeamish as he’s always claimed and completely avoided touching everything south of her upper arms. She sprays the antiseptic, following it quickly with a puff of breath like her father used to do for her as a child. Ava flinches as the cloth finds the crevices, and regrets when there’s much more than a few swipes can control. It’s a slow and painful process, every spot on her legs requiring much more attention than the symbols Gary already covered. The worst areas are around her hips and back, where the material of her clothes clearly rubbed the grit in, and sweat mixed with dirt to sit in infected cuts while Ava’s body was trapped in the hotel.

As she finishes up, she sees the relief settle into Ava’s features. Sara has always known Ava is strong, but the strength she is displaying right now is next level. The tense pull to her muscles releases and her body sinks back into the mattress again. She deliberated in letting the wounds air out, after so much time trapped under layers of dirt she wanted to let the skin breathe, but in the end giving Ava a barrier, some measure of protection while they slept won out. Being rudely awoken by rolling onto a sore spot was the last thing Sara wanted for her, so for now the bandages stayed on. She piles all her used materials together and sweeps the rest back to bathroom while Ava slides into pajamas left in her designated drawer. When she returns, Ava’s changed and sitting on her side of the bed waiting for Sara. Her smile is small and tired, and when reaches out her hand Sara takes it without hesitation.

“Thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome.” Ava rises to her feet and brings their joined hands to her lips.

“I meant what I said, Sara.” She pulls Sara’s shirt over her head. “I want a life with you.” She undoes her bra and produces a soft tank top from behind her, encourages Sara to slip it on. “For as long as we can manage.” Her hands move to the belt buckle and jeans next, and Sara finds she is more than alright to let her continue to undress her. “Whether it means solidifying it some day with a piece of paper,” A quick unhook and unzip and Ava pulls her pants down and off her legs. “Or maybe somehow finding a way for you and I to have a kid of our own.” From her position, now crouched in front of Sara, she helps her step into a pair of shorts and pulls them to her waist. “I’ll be by your side, every step of the way.” Each of them dressed for bed now, Ava draws Sara into her arms and looks down to meet their eyes. “If you’ll have me.”

Sara pulls them just a little bit closer before she replies, “There’s nothing I want more.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am a firm believer that the Waverider's captains quarters has a tiny en-suite bathroom and you can't change my mind.
> 
>  
> 
> And, as always, the title is a Tennessee Williams quote I smashed together for my own purposes.


End file.
